The Sister
by UltimatePotterhead98
Summary: Let's just say for a moment that James had a twin sister. Let's just say that this sister kept something from her friends & her family, something that back in the 70's was viewed as sin. How will her friends react to her secret when she starts falling for her friend? [O/C & Marlene, slight Jily. GXG. Lesbian/bi characters. No hate. OG published on Quotev under pen name HPLOTRPJVD]
1. Disclaimer

_**Disclaimer.**_

Hey everybody!

These are just a few things I wasn't to say about this story! So first of all, I do not own anything in the Harry Potter world. All that amazingness belongs to Queen Rowling.

Second, I originally had this story published on a website called Quotev under the pen name HPLOTRPJVD. It is/was called Sisters and it was slightly different from this one. The original plot contained two OC characters, one was Jame's sister (who I kept) and the other was Lily's twin sister. I decided to change it because I came up with the concept two years ago and I prefer this one much better. Two OC main characters are too much to handle. I was hesitating as to who I should make the love interest for this story and finally decided on Marlene McKinnon because there is very little known about her in the original books, so I have more creative room with this character.

This story is very personal to me because the struggles these characters go through are struggles similar to my own. Being bisexual myself and having to keep this a secret is something I struggle with on a daily basis. It's very awkward for me to talk about with people in my surroundings as only 3 people know about this part of my life. It's very much a secret in my very religious family and very religious coworkers. I'm often very awkward about it because I'm not able to fully embrace it my daily life. If this awkwardness ever translate into my writing, I'm sorry. I often try to be objective but it can be a little difficult. Whatever emotions or inner debates my characters have mirror my own and sometimes what you feel doesn't translate that well into writing and I'm sorry if anybody finds some parts awkward or offensive (which I don't think you would but obviously everybody perceives things differently.) I am in no way insinuating that the thoughts of my characters are thoughts reflected by every single LGBTQ+ person, but they are my own thoughts. If others going through something like this can relate to this story then I will be glad for it. (I feel like this whole paragraph is awkward... this is what I mean by feelings sometimes not translating well in writing. *has small anxiety attack*)

This story starts of 1975, during the Marauders era and some of the thoughts are reflective of prejudices in the era and are in no means reflective of my own thoughts. Please if you have any questions, do not hesitate to PM me.

If you stuck it through all this way, I hope you enjoy this story.

 **I will not tolerate any homophobic reviews on this story. I will not tolerate any hate regarding this aspect of the story. If you have any constructive criticism about the plot itself, please feel free to comment. I will gladly take it all into consideration but I will not, under any circumstance, tolerate bullies.**


	2. Chapter 1 - Hogwarts

"Alright now James, don't you be getting in to too much trouble now. Amber, we expect you to keep him in line, understand?" My mum asked me looking into my blue eyes making me nod. I smirk over at James who pokes his tongue out at me. Mum and Dad roll their eyes.

"You can count on me mum." I lean up and kiss her cheek making her smile softly and stroke my black hair a little.

"I love you sweetie." She whispers hugging me. I then hug my father who gives me a tight squeeze. Being a daddy's girl, it was hard for him to let me go each year but like always he knew I would always come back. He lets me go and kisses my head.

"Stay safe." He whispers smiling at me before ruffling James hair, who grinned.

"I'll see you guys at Christmas." I smile at them before running into the train. The past summer had been quite an adventure, unlike James; I had decided to travel around with my parents, meeting wizards from all over the world! It was the best trip of my life. Unfortunately, it meant I did not get to see all my friends and I had missed them so much! I walk around looking for Lily and Marlene, my two closest friends, thinking Alice will be with Frank and didn't need to be bothered. As I was searching, someone tackled me to the ground from behind. I groaned in pain as we fell to the floor. There was no doubt in my mind who was on top of me right now.

"Marlene McKinnon you better get your fat ass off me right now!" I warned. She giggled and got off me making me smile as I stood up. I turned to face her before hugging her tightly. I held her close to me, enjoying her embrace having missed it the entire summer.

"I missed you so much." We said together making us pull apart laughing. Marlene had been my friend since day one. We shared the same dorm so it would've been hard for us to not get along. We were lucky we got along so great. We had a lot of things in common but of course none of them knew... I was scared they wouldn't treat me the same if they did… Especially Marlene. She was… she was simply amazing. Her beauty was incomparable, her long black hair always flowing perfectly down her shoulders. Her perfectly full red lips always arched in a smile never ceased to make me smile and her gorgeous greyish eyes made my heart stop. I can't remember how long I've had a crush on Marlene but it pains me to know that my feelings would never be reciprocated. It pained me to think of what would happen should she ever find out the truth about me… should she ever find out the truth about my feelings for her.. I felt Marlene snap her fingers in front of my face and I jumped slightly.

"You okay Amber?" she asked worried. I smile and nodded.

"Yes why?" I asked

"Well you seem a little you know…" She hesitated.

"I'm fine Mar. Now shall we go find Lily?" I asked impatiently. She nods smiling and crossing arms with me. We skipped across the train looking for Lily and we found her sitting in a compartment reading a goddamn book. I groan walking in and sitting on her lap after pushing the book to the ground.

"Why is it that you are always reading?" I ask. She laughs and hugs me tightly making me giggle.

"I missed you too Amber." She says in an almost sarcastic manner.

"I never said I missed you" I smirk teasing her, making her roll her eyes as she pushed me off her. I sat down across from her as she hugged Marlene after which they both sat down across from me.

"So how where your summers?" Lily asked picking up her book from the ground and putting it in her rucksack.

"Well mine consisted of owling Amos Diggory over and over again. I think he might like me," Marlene says blushing looking down at her fingers. Lily wiggled her eyebrows at Marlene as I tensed slightly at the mention of Diggory. I tried to force a smile, not wanting them to notice how uncomfortable this made me.

"Marlene and Amos sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-" Lily sang but couldn't go on as she burst into laughter making Marlene blush even harder. I looked away from them, turning my attention to the window watching the scenery fly by. Just as Lily was about to say something to Marlene, there was a knock on the door before three boys stride in.

"Evans!" James plops down next to Lily who tensed up, her face growing red with anger.

"How was your summer" He puts his arm around her shoulder. She gags pushed his arm off her. I snicker shaming my head at my brothers antics. He never failed to distract me with them, even when he didn't realize it.

"James leave her alone." I smirk looking over at him. He frowns before moving to sit next to me.

"I thought my twin would have my back!" He says making me laugh.

"Under any other circumstance, the answer to that would be a strong maybe. But you are so wrong about this right now." I tease him smiling as I pat his cheek.

"There is nothing wrong with this" He states glaring a little at me.

"Oh of course nothing is wrong. You are just guy who will not stalking me and asking me out!" Lily shouts angry clenching her hands around her book which I presume she took out for self defence against James. As this whole thing was going on, Remus sat next to Marlene and they had started their own conversation. However, Sirius sat beside me smirking as James turned his attention back to Lily. I pretended not to notice him until his staring starting to get on my nerves. I turn to him rolling my eyes.

"Can I help you Sirius?" I asked slightly disgusted at his lustful look. He smirks softly as I noticed him.

"You know what I want" He winks at me making me roll my eyes.

"And do you know what I don't want?! You" I hit the back of his head. Marlene, noticing, fights back a laugh and shake her head. Her eye catches mine and we spend a little moment looking at each other, until we noticed Sirius staring at us curiously. I bite my lip looking away. Could he tell that I felt attracted to her? I shake my head biting my lip and look out the window once more. Just as Sirius is about to speak up once more, James interjects.

"Padfoot just leave my sister alone yah? She doesn't want you and it's not like I would let her date you anyway" He says sternly. I giggle a little at his protectiveness.

"Wow Potter, this is the first time I've actually seen you care for someone other than yourself" Lily says her voice surprisingly soft. He smirks turning to face her.

"Does that mean that you'll go out with me?" He asks making her groan as he ruined the moment.

"For the last time no!" She yells standing up.

"Now excuse me, Remus and I have a Prefects meeting!" She says angrily dragging Remus out of the compartment as the train started to leave the station. I close my eyes just wanted to get some sleep not wanting to deal with Sirius right now.

* * *

I was woken up by someone shaking me softly whispering my name.

"Wake up Amber, we are almost there" the smooth voice whispers making me smile as I recognize it. I open my eyes to see Marlene staring at me. She smiles brightly as I wake up.

"Have a nice sleep?" She giggles as I yawn and stretch. I giggle as well and nod.

"Wonderful" I reply as she holds her hand out to help me up. I take it with great pleasure and stand. Neither of us let go which makes my smile grow.

"We need to change into our robes, we are almost there" She explains to me still holding my hand. The compartment door opens, making us let go of each other's hand. Lily walked in smiling at us.

"The bathrooms are free if you need them" Lily says putting her muggle clothing in her bag. Marlene nods thanking Lily.

"Let's go" She says to me smiling widely as she drags me out. I have just enough time to pick up my bag as we leave, heading to the bathroom. There being only one stall, I let her go in first. She soon comes out in the Gryffindor robes smiling at me. I dress quickly but have trouble with my tie. I pout as I come out, my tie in a mess. She giggles shaking her head.

"Don't worry you'll get used to it one day" She teases me, since this was a recurring problem with me, often stealing my brothers tie right of his neck at breakfast only to have him use my undone tie for himself.

"May I?" She asks motioning to my tie.

"Of course, I don't want to start off the year looking like this" I tease making her laugh as she undoes the knots in my tie. She slowly starts to redo it as I stare at her face. Her tongue was sticking out just a little bit as she bit her bottom lip in concentration making her look absolutely adorable. She tightens it a little as she finishes, her faces only inches away from mine.

"Done" She breaths looking me in the eyes. I stare back looking back into hers. Just as we were leaning in a little, she coughs a little.

"Come on, we should um, head back" She whispers walking away flustered. I sigh in despair as I follow her back to the compartment. I shouldn't be letting myself imagine these slights of fancy about Marlene, I didn't want her to start figuring out how I felt. I also would never want her to feel uncomfortable about me. She ignores Lily's greetings as she sits in the corner staring out into the window. I cough a little and don't say a word as I sit down. Lily shoots me a questioning look but I shake my head telling her it was fine. She nods and lets it go.

* * *

After the feist, we start to head to the common room when Marlene pulls me aside.

"Are you okay?" She asks as our friends keep going without us. I frown rubbing my arm subconsciously.

"Of course I am, why would I not be?" I ask her trying to avoid the possibly upcoming subject. She rolls her eyes giving me a look.

"Because I know you Amber, and I know when something is troubling you. Just tell me, you know it'll make you feel better." She says and I sigh looking around before looking back at her.

"Not here okay?" I say taking her hand and start dragging her towards the front door. I start heading for the lake, ignoring Marlenes constant questions as to where we where going. I bite my lip as we get on a rough path by the lake and finally emerge at a clearing overlooking the lake. I look back at Marlene.

"Whoa" she says not really knowing what else to say.

"I know right?" I smile sitting down on the grass.

"The only people that know about it are James and I" I say patting the spot next to me. She smiles and sits down next to me.

"And why are you sharing it with me and what was so secret that you had to drag me all the way out here to tell me? Not that I mind of course. This place is beautiful." She says staring right at me, making me tense a little. I obviously couldn't tell her that it was because I was attracted to her, and that I was being weird because she was somehow fifty times more beautiful this year than she was last year. I turned to look at her and give her a small smile.

"Because you're my friend, and this is what friends do. And I just… I've been acting weird because of Lily and James" I reply before turning back to look up at the stars. I didn't know what else she would say, but I definitely didn't want to push the subject, hoping she wouldn't figure out I was lying about the James and Lily thing. She nods satisfied with that answer, almost making me sigh in relief.

"What's to be worried about though?" She laughs a little looking out at the lake.

"James is a special guy, there is no denying that. He's stubborn, obnoxious and rude when he wants to be but most of the times he's funny, adventurous, caring and generous. He's a really great brother but unfortunately for him and for Lily, he doesn't know how to act around attractive girls. He freaks out and tries to be all cool and cocky, which isn't who he really is deep down. I can tell he really loves Lily and that every rejection hurts him badly. It just sucks that Lily can't see how great of a guy he is. I think the main reason for that though is the fact that James bullied Snape. In the second year, he heard Snape use the M word with his Slytherin buddies when they were talking about Lily and ever since then well" I trail off running my hands through my hair.

"Lily didn't believe him and called him a liar and I guess James has always despised Snape for getting in the way of his and Lily's relationship because up until that moment, they had been friends… sort of. I've tried to tell Lily but she doesn't want to believe it because Snape is her oldest wizarding friend" I smile a little over at Marlene who was frowning.

"Now I really dislike Snape more than ever. I can't believe that snake. But Lily is a big girl, she'll figure it out eventually. You just have to have faith." She offers me a small smile. I nod and sigh lying down on my back.

"It just sucks for James, he doesn't show it but I know he hurts every time he gets rejected… Lily just doesn't get it, nor does she care I mean she thinks he in it for the sole purpose of humiliating her" I close my eyes a little.

"Lily can be a little stubborn but I mean James could be a little less cocky and act like his real self from time to time" She giggles shaking her head.

"I guess, you know what we should do? We should totally try and set them up together" I say sitting up. She gasps and nods enthusiastically.

"But how can we do that? If James always get cocky around girls he likes how is that going to work?" She asks. I think for a little bit before smiling widely.

"After she rejects him, I'll drag him out and talk to him and then he'll start telling me how he feels. We just have to make sure that Lily hears what he is saying and hopefully that will put him on the path to redemption." I say smirking. She laughs and nod.

"That just might work!" She says laughing a little.

"You're really brilliant you know that?" She says biting down on her lip after a slight moment of silence. I shrug a little starting to feel a little bit self-conscious.

"I do my best" I whisper looking down at my hands. She smiles widely and sighs lying down, me following her movements.

"Thank you, for showing me this, for bringing me here" She says smiling a little not moving her eyes from the skies. I smile, looking up at the stars.

"I thought you might like it. But don't you be bringing any boys up here to snog and/or shag" I tease her looking at her.

"Don't worry, that won't happen" I hear her whispers sighing softly. As curious as I was, I didn't press the matter, just enjoying the moment.


	3. Chapter 2 - First Day

I woke up the next morning smiling slightly. Marlene and I had spent the whole night talking and joking around. She's such an amazing person, sweet, caring, sensitive… She's perfect. There were many times did I just wanted to grab her face and pull it to mine, planting a kiss on those perfect lips. Of course, I never actually did because I kept telling myself that for now, I was just going to forget about it all and focus more on being her friend. Besides, crushes like these pass as often as they come. If I shifted my focus onto something else, it might go away faster. I sit up stretching as I look around the dormitory. I see that she, and most of the girls, have already gone down for breakfast and the only person left in the room is Lily. She was sitting on her bed smiling at me.

"Morning Amber," She says moving to sit on my bed. I sit up smiling back at her.

"Morning Lily, sleep well?" I asked running my hands through my hair as she nods.

"I did, did you? I know you came in late last night," She says putting a slight emphasis on late. I sigh and nod slightly.

"I did. Me and Marlene, we were just talking and I guess we lost track of time." I say thinking back on last night. I rub the back of my neck trying. Lily sighs.

"Why wasn't I invited to this talk fest?" She asks pouting a bit. I laugh at her reaction and shake my head smiling.

"Maybe because we knew you wouldn't want to stay up late with us and would force us to come to bed earlier?" I say raising an eyebrow, a smile still dancing on my face. She laughs nodding.

"Alright, I see your point. But I would have only done so for your own good! If you stay up too late all the time then you wouldn't be able to wake up in the morning. You'd be late for class and probably wouldn't be paying attention in class. Basically you would turn into your brother." She says making a face.

"Don't worry Lily, I'm not an idiot. Besides, me turning into my brother? That is quite the overreaction isn't it? I shudder at the thought" I tease grinning at her. Her concern was touching, but she had nothing to worry about. Lily gives me a small smile before giving me a small hug.

"Now go and get dressed okay? We need to get some breakfast before it's all gone" I giggle at her statement slightly and quickly slip on my uniform, tying my hair up in a bun and quickly brushing my teeth. I had left my tie still knotted yesterday as to avoid any struggles this morning. I was quite thankful for it as it helped save some time. I walk out of the bathroom smiling at her.

"Alright, let's get going then," She says interlacing her arm with mine and leading me down to the Great Hall, explaining in great depth her plan for O.W.L's this year. I listened carefully not to dose of at how boring it all sounded to me. We soon reach the Great Hall and she sits me down next to our friends, me sitting across from her and next to Marlene.

"Morning" Marlene says pouring me some orange juice, then doing the same with Lily.

"Thanks" I reply taking a small sip before putting some food on my plate. I see Professor McGonagall walking around distributing papers.

"Ugh, she's distributing the timetables. I hope I'm in classes with you all this term. It was almost painful not to be last year." Marlene says as Professor McGonagall reaches us. She respectfully hands us our timetables, before leaving without saying a word. I wonder what she could possibly have up her ass that made her so uptight. I look down at my timetable and frown realizing I started in double Potions with Slytherins. Marlene grabs my timetable and looks down at it smiling.

"We have all the same classes!" She says enthusiastically handing me back my schedule. I smile at her but my head instantly goes to the fact that it was going to be harder to focus on my studies if my distraction was in every single one of my classes. We always studied together when we had the same classes and I don't think this year will be any exception to that fact. Lily grabs the schedule from my hands roughly and grins.

"We also have all our classes together! This is so exciting!" She squeals and reaches over the table to hug me tightly making me laugh as I hug her back. Hopefully, with Lily participating in our study sessions, I would be able to stay on track.

"This is great" I smile and start to eat as she pulls out of the hug. As soon ass we were all done with our breakfasts we start to head over to Potions, Lily raving on and on about how great of a teacher Slughorn was and how I should really consider being part of the Slug Club this year. The sound of that club made me cringe. I turned to look at Marlene who was trying not to laugh.

"Are you going to be in it?" I ask her probably knowing the answer already.

"No. Even if my grades were as good as Lily's, I'd rather jump off the Astronomy tower than be a part of that club." She giggles as Lily rolls her eyes.

"Maybe if Amber would lay off the pranks and focused a little more in class instead of making potions blow up in peoples faces and if you showed a bit more interest in your studies, you would both find this club more interesting." I laugh as I head her description of me.

"Do I really do that?" I ask teasingly making Lily roll her eyes.

"I'm just kidding. I know I do, I mean warts and boils just started sprouting on their faces and it is always hilarious!" Marlene laughs and runs her hands through her hair. Lily rolls her eyes at her fighting back her own smile as we enter the Potions classroom. All of us sit at the same table and I start flipping through my textbook and smile softly seeing all kinds of funny potions.

"Wart growing potion." I laugh pointing to one. Marlene giggles as well and points to the one next to it.

"Swelling potion. Can you imagine what pranks you could pull would these? God that would be hilarious" She bites her lips before Lily slams my book shut.

"You will not get involved in those shenanigans again this semester! I'm making it my duty to make sure you both behave this semester." She says sternly making me roll my eyes.

"Relax Lily, I can do what I want and it's not like we were actually going to do anything" I explain. Once Lily looks away, I wink at Marlene and open the book again, starting to scribble in my book, taking notes different pranks I could use these potions for. Marlene starts to talk about the first Hogsmeade trip, twirling her hair. I couldn't help but stare at her, as she laughed and talked with Lily. The way she played with her hair and bit her lip when she nodded was so cute and I couldn't help but think that she was just so beautiful. I feel Lily's gaze on me and I turn back down to my book trying not to blush. Soon Professor Slughorn walks into class, and everybody quiets down. I look over at him, a balding man, with a big belly. He had kind eyes, surprisingly enough for the head of Slytherin house that is. He smiles warmly at us before waving his wand at the board, where an invisible hand was writing instructions.

"Morning class, I assure you had a great summer. Mine was certainly enjoyable." He laughs a little after this as he starts to walk around. He starts giving us the O.W.L. speech but I found it hard to pay attention with the way Marlene was concentrating as she wrote down what Slughorn was saying. The tip of her tongue was sticking out ever so slightly from the corner of her mouth, her eyebrows scrunched up as she tried to keep up with his fast pace speech. She looked perfectly adorable doing so. Slughorn snapped me out of my daze as he turned the conversation back to the class material.

"Just for a quick a reminder of last year, you must brew this potion by the end of this class." He points to the board and I see it is a healing potion. I smile a little as that was the best kind of potion I could brew.

"Begin." He adds before sitting at his desk to watch us.

* * *

As Potions came to an end, I smiled down at my potion as I finished stirring it with my wand. Just as I did so, Professor Slughorn walks up behind me.

"Brilliant! That looks to be a perfect potion!" He laughs leaning down to inspect my potion a little bit more. He sticks his finger in the potion and takes a small lick before taking a deep breath.

"And so, my cold will soon be gone." My eyes go wide. Are you kidding me? This idiot made us brew a potion that was meant to heal him when he could've done it himself. Instead of wasting our time, he could've actually maybe thought us something! Marlene laughs a little at my expression as it turns from surprise to anger. She puts her hand on my shoulder to stop me from jumping out of my seat and expressing my discontent.

"Pure brilliance" He smiles at me. He instructs us to empty part of our potions in vials to hand in for grading before dismissing us. After we hand them in, I look over at Marlene who shrugs and picks up her bag. I do the same, shaking my head. He wasn't taking them in for grading, he was taking them in for himself. This teacher was a joke. We head out of the class in silence as I was still in shock at what just happened.

"Was that a joke?" I ask finally as we make our way out of the dungeons. Alice giggles and shakes her head.

"He always does that, but at least its bearable. I would hate to have a teacher who would work us too hard since Potions is such a drab subject." I consider this fact as we head over to Transfiguration. Alice then went to sit with Frank Longbottom, Lily with another Gryffindor. Marlene and I went to sit at the back, leaving a pair of two-person desks behind us.

"So how do you like the new year so far? Is it as you expected? Better? Worse maybe?" She smiles twirling a finger around her hair. I smile a little and nod.

"Other than Slughorn being the usual twat, I'd say this year is pretty great so far," I smirk making her laugh. She nods agreeing with what I said and before I could say anything else, four boys barged into the room and came to sit next to us. I saw a lot of girls looking their way, which made me roll my eyes. James and Sirius sat behind us, while Remus and Peter sat behind them.

"Hey Amber," Sirius winks at me making me groan.

"Please get over yourself. You are like my brother! This is just wrong, please just stop hitting on me okay?" I asked him basically pleading him, making him roll his eyes.

"Fine… maybe just for today," He adds on smirking a little. I was about to slap him in the face but James grabs my arm as Sirius laughed.I glare slightly at James, trying to take my arm back but James kept his grip tight. He smirks at me as I struggle to take my arm back making little whining noises but he keeps pulling my arm back towards him. Marlene couldn't stop laughing at how childish we were being right. It went on for a good amount of time until I finally decided to stand up and smack the back of his head so hard that he let go of the arm he was holding.

"That's what you get… git," I mumble sitting back down flipping my hair behind my shoulder. He glares and rolls his eyes showing me the finger. Marlene laughs once more shaking her head at our sibling quarrels. His head turns to her as he hears her laugh, making her blush slightly. He was about to say something when McGonagall interrupted him

"Is something the matter Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asks making her way over to us as James shakes his head quickly. I notice everybody staring at us as I look around, most of them smiling other than Lily who was scowling at us. I roll my eyes at her when I notice that there was something written down on the board, probably meaning that class had already started. I gulp a little looking over at the clock that was above it against the wall. My theory was confirmed as I notice it had been fifteen minutes since class had started whereas I had felt it more to be a good five minutes.

"No professor," James said thinking she had just gotten into class. He grins up at her making me shake my head.

"Well something must be wrong for you to disturb my class with your constant chatter Mr. Potter" She persists making him lose him grin and gulp. He looks back down at his desk as she looks at the four of us making a small noise of disapproval.

"Now, as I was saying," She says going back to the front of the class droning on and on O.W.L's. I look back at James laughing slightly. He sticks his tongue out at us before looking over at Lily, staring at her as she asked a question. I figured everybody would probably give this O.W.L. speech, so I decided to start playing hangman with Marlene. I mean, even if the other teachers didn't, I could always ask Lily.

* * *

I groan slumping down on the common room couch. We had just finished eating dinner and I had never felt so full. I put my hands on my stomach frowning as I could basically feel it getting bigger. Marlene smirks sitting next to me.

"You're having your first Hogwarts food baby of the year my friend." She says tapping my stomach slightly. I look over at her confused. What does that mean? What the bloody hell was a food baby? Seeing my look of confusion, she decided to elaborate.

"A food baby is something that happens when you feel bloated after eating. Kind of as if you were pregnant, but all you did was eat a lot of food." She explains to me making me nod.

"That is exactly how I feel," I say laughing as I sit up normally. She smiles at me with all her teeth before winking.

"This won't be you're last, trust me," She says as I stand.

"And where are you going?" She asked giving me a small frown, her bottom lip sticking out ever so slightly. I almost groaned at how cute and sexy that looked. Why was she making it so hard for me not to have a crush on her? All I really wanted to do right now was crush my lips to hers and kiss her until my lips were bruised. I decided, instead, to shrug and point to the stairs.

"Girls dormitory, I'm going to take a shower," I tell her smiling at her. A voice in that back of my head added to my sentence: "Would you like to join?" Merlin, why was she so irresistible? She looked away, her head turning towards the noise of my brother and his friends entering the common room. I shook my head. Without even saying goodbye, I walked, more like ran, upstairs to my dorm room. I slammed the door behind me breathing out a sigh of relief.

"You alright?" said a voice from behind me making me jump and squeal. I turned quickly to see Lily standing there in her towel. I look away nodding.

"Yes… yes I'm fine I'm just going to…" I point to the bathroom and rush in. As I locked the bathroom door, I let out a large sigh. I turn on the water in the shower before stripping down. I quickly get it and sigh as the warm water hits my cold skin. As the water ran down my spine, I couldn't help but picture Marlene in here with me, running her fingers along my sides.

"Oh bloody hell what is going on right now" I whisper to myself as I quickly shower trying to not think of her as I got things done. Stepping out, I wrapped a towel around my body tightly before looking at myself in the mirror.

"Just breathe Amber," I whisper to myself nodding at my reflection. I didn't know why this was happening all of a sudden. The intensity and magnitude of the emotions I was currently feeling was not even remotely close to the little crush I've had on Marlene for the last two years. I feel like everything is hitting me all at once and it's so… nerve wracking. I run my hands through my wet hair before stepping out of the bathroom trying to think of things that would get the imagine of us showering together out of my head. I hum a song softly as I made my way to my bed noticing everybody else was gone. They were probably in the common room. I let the towel go as I started to get dressed. After changing into my pyjamas, I pulled a book out from under my mattress and laid down, stomach first, on the bed. I opened it and picked up my quill.

 _Diary entry - September 2nd, 1975_

 _I don't really know why this is happening now of all times. I'm starting to develop deeper feelings for a girl, for one of my best friends. I mean I always knew I was be attracted to her, I've known for over two years now. But I never thought it would all magnify itself now, during one of the most important academic years at Hogwarts. I always thought it would go away, what with all the boys I have seen her be with over the years and that I would finish up school, meet a witch or a muggle outside of school and then be forced to tell my friends about a week before the wedding, or even after if we decided to elope. But the increasing height of the emotions I'm feeling, I can't help but wonder how did is going to affect my secret._

 _I hope this isn't going to get too serious, but something is different this year. She makes me laugh more and not to mention that she is incredibly beautiful, even more so than last year. That is the worst part. I'm starting to think of her as more than just a crush. I'm starting to think of her in unspeakable ways. I was thinking about her being in the shower with me and I… I just feel so frustrated now._

 _I don't know what to do. I don't know who to turn to._

 _Merlin, please help me._

I slammed the book shut and slammed my head down against it. These next few years were going to be harder then I thought if I was going to continue feeling this way. It's not like I could help it, she was just so… I'd rather not think about that right now. I put my book back in its place, setting my quill down on my nightstand before getting into bed.

"Why did I have to be born this way? Why couldn't I just be normal?" I asked myself. I wish I were like girls my age, fawning over guys, dating them, and kissing them. I wished I wasn't a walking sin. I was probably the only person at Hogwarts like this and it just made me feel even more abnormal. Groaning, I closed my eyes and buried my head in my pillow, desperately trying to get some sleep. Maybe things would get better? Maybe these feelings would go away. The last thing I wanted right now was a rejection. The last thing I wanted right now was to lose everybody I cared about because of this abnormality I had. What if the truth came out and I lost my family? What if no one ever spoke to me again? How would I manage that? How could I possibly be able to go on for two more years after this one? Shaking my head, I decided to think of happier things, like bunnies and rainbows. These thoughts were getting too depressing for my taste and I didn't need that or want that right now. I closed my eyes and was finally able to get some sleep.

 **Marlene's P.O.V.**

After turning back to talk to Amber, I noticed her rushing up the stairs. That was strange? Was it something I said? I sigh softly looking into the fire. All of this was so confusing and I didn't really know what to do with the way she was acting recently. I run my left hand up and down my right arm as I hold my knees to my chest. The fire burned bright and warm making me smile slightly.

"Hey Mar," Lily said sitting next to me. I look over at her sitting down in a regular position. I smile at her a little.

"Hey Lily, how are you," I asked smiling at her. She shrugs as she sets her Transfiguration books down.

"I can't seem to get the Vanishing Spell right. I mean, I only get it one out of two times and it's frustrating! I want to get it right every time!" She says opening her book to read more on Vanishing Spells. I roll my eyes at her and shake my head.

"At least you can make it vanish. Every time I try on my snails, I only manage to make the body disappear, the shell always stays" I complain frowning as she looked at me sternly.

"Maybe if you focused more instead of talking to Potter," She said turning back to her book. I look down at my fingers shaking my head.

"That's not what was distracting me," I say turning my head back to the fire. She sighs and slams the book shut.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She whispers putting a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off.

"Well whatever it is, I know it's going to okay I promise," Lily suggested which made me nod.

"I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow morning." I smile at her before going up to the dormitory. As I walked in, I couldn't help but look over her bed, where Amber slept peacefully. She looked so adorable as she snored softly. I smiled a little as I got changed, before laying down in my own bed. I looked over at Amber's bed and sigh rubbing my face. It was so hard to keep up this charade. Meeting Amber 5 years ago made me start questioning everything I thought I knew about myself. I had always dreamed, or at least my parents had always dreamed, that I would meet a nice boy at school, get married and have a small army of children. But when I saw Amber, when I got to know her, I started to question this dream. I had always thought girls were just as pretty as boys, but at 11 what does anybody really know about anything? The more I grew up, the more I realized that my dream was changing. I couldn't see a man or a woman in my dream. I was just seeing someone, someone to love, man or woman. Amber was the one who made me realize that I was attracted to both men and women. When I first figured it out, I was freaking out a little bit. I was having a small panic attack in our dorm room but Lily found me and we talked it out together. She was so accepting and supportive. Of course, in the last two years, I've had my fair share of boyfriends at school, and some secret girlfriends during my summers at home. A lot of those relationships didn't last, mostly because the girls were afraid of anybody finding out. I was scared of people here finding out as well, so I couldn't really fault them. Of course, I didn't only date girls in the summer. Diggory was constantly sending me letters, meeting up with me on several occasions and it was nice to be getting his attention but I didn't think it would go much further than that. I haven't spoken to him since term started and to be honest, I'm kind of hoping he just stays a summer fling. If it were up to me, I would try my luck with Amber. No matter what happened with me and my other relationships, my attraction for her just never went away. I just don't think she is like me, and even if she was, would it be worth risking our friendship? I don't believe so. Attraction doesn't equal love. Maybe this year, I would find someone to love me, truly love me for all that I am. I just wish the 70's were more accepting of people like me… I wonder if that will ever change. With that thought, I went to bed.

 ** _A/N : Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed chapter 2 of The Sister! I included a small Marlenes P.O.V. at the end just to have an impression of what she's feeling so far and what she might be feeling eventually. I made her bisexual because it just wasn't realistic to have her be the love interest and be portrayed as straight in all the chapters until they both get together. Obviously, I'm also introducing her attraction to Amber so it isn't incredibly sudden as well. I'm trying to take it all slow so thats why so far it been mostly physical attraction but emotional connections will happen later on. If you have anything to say please dont be scared to review! Id love to know how I could improve and how you all feel about this story! Thanks. _**


	4. Chapter 3 - Problems

Amber's P.O.V.

I woke up with a smile that morning, having had a long dreamless sleep. I stretched in my bed looking down at the time. I could have slept for an extra half hour, but I feel good and I don't think I need to sleep a little more. Hence why I made my way out of bed, going to the bathroom to get ready for my day. After brushing my teeth and combing my hair, I started to apply some powder on my face, covering my acne. I walk out as I braided my hair to the side, my eyes closed as I hummed a song softly. I slowly opened my eyes and by the corner of my eye, I saw Marlene changing through the small cracks of the curtains of her bed. I took a sharp breath as I see her take off her top, giving my a view of her perky breast covered by a black lacy bra. I wanted to whine as she pulled on her school blouse, slowly buttoning it up, taking away the image of her chest away from me. Just as she was going to take off her pyjama pants, Alice called my name. I jumped and turned around to face her blushing softly.

"Yes Alice?" I ask softly going to sit on my bed, trying not to look at her in the eye. What if she could tell what was going on? I didn't want them to find out this way; hell I didn't even want them to find out at all. Relax Amber, breathe, there is no way she could tell just by that.

"Why were you staring at the door? Is everything alright?" She asked a little concerned. Looking back at Marlene's cot, I realized that it was indeed next to the door. I managed a small, discreet sigh before nodding.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. I just don't want to go to class." I explain then starting to get dressed, closing the curtains of my bed. I quickly got dressed, trying to shake the image of her upper body from my mind but it was inked in and I couldn't seem to get rid of it. It made me want to just… Well let's not get into that right now. I open my curtains again, grabbing my bag and waiting for everybody else. Soon enough we were all leaving, Marlene and I being the last out of the room.

"Hey" I greet her softly my eyes lingering down to her chest for a couple seconds before looking back up at her face. She gives a hesitant smile, before looking ahead. I frown a little but decided it was nothing before I tried to start up the conversation again.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked not knowing what else to say. She merely nodded before walking a little faster. What was that about? I let it go as I trailed behind her and Alice. We reach the Great Hall and I sit next to Lily, across from Marlene at the edge of the table. I filled my plate sneaking glances at her as I did.

"What to we have today Lily?" I ask her as I chew on a piece of bacon. Lily takes out her timetable as Marlene leans over to grab some toast, her breast showing slightly through the unbuttoned top of her blouse. I couldn't help but blush as she pulled away. I caught her eyeing blushed harder turning away. She had caught be staring at her. I put my hand on my cheek to hide my blush as Lily read out the classes we had today. I slowly started to zone out, biting my lip looking in Marlene's general direction without realizing it. I twirled the end of my braid around between my fingers thinking. I thought about what I had seen this morning and what I was thinking off last night. I don't know why but this girl just made me crazy. She just… My plan to ignore these feelings this semester was not working well at all so far. I feel someone put their hand on my shoulder from behind making me jump.

"What the hell!" I ask softly before turning around. I see Sirius standing there smirking. I glare at him shaking my head turning back so my back was facing him.

"Ah come on babe don't be like that." He says squeezing between Lily and I, almost pushing me out of my seat. I picked up my backpack and shake my head as I stand.

"I'll see you all later" I say waving at them. They all nodded waving back, all but Marlene, who just turned her head to talk to Lily. I lingered a little, wanting to ask her if I did anything wrong but then I thought, maybe she didn't see. She was probably turning her head while a waved. And so, I left.

* * *

I was walking down the halls, cursing Sirius out. After four years, did he not get the hint that I am just not into him! How could he still be pestering me after all these years! Its like James and Lily but the only difference is that James actually likes Lily and has never had another girlfriend. Sirius has dated almost the entire population of girls at the school! In the middle of my rage walk, I ran into someone making him drop his books.

"I am so sorry" I say not looking up at who it was as I bent down to pick up the books. I looked up as I reached for a divination books and frowned.

"James?" He stops his fumbling around as he looks up as well. His cheeks held a small blush as if he was embarrassed.

"Why do you have so many books?" I asked confused. My brother never studied, so why did he have so many books in hand? He coughed slightly trying to think of an excuse but I gave him the stare. He sighed before leaning against the wall.

"Every morning, I spend at least an hour in the library studying to keep my grades up. I hide the books under my bed and when the boys are asleep, I pull them out and study" He explains making me frown.

"Why do you hide it James? I mean who cares if you study? Don't you see how much that would help you with Lily and just make people respect you a lot more?" I ask sitting next to him, the books still scattered at our feet. I lean my head on his shoulder as he puts his arm around my shoulder for comfort.

"I guess, but I don't know how Padfoot would react. He wouldn't like it, he'd probably make fun off me" He sighs biting my lip. I smile a little and look up at him.

"Look here's what you do, tonight in the common tell him your going to the library and see how he reacts. I'm sure it's not as bad as you would think it would be alright?" I say patting his cheek and he nods after thinking it over.

"Now why were you so angry?" He asks looking down at me. I bite my lip and step back a little not wanting to say anything, but if I couldn't tell my brother, whom could I tell?

"Its just Sirius, he wont leave me alone and I don't want anything but to be his friend! But he just doesn't understand, he doesn't get that I don't like him! At all! And its just bothering me that he isn't giving up because not only does he keep flirting with me but he is also getting with other girls. Do you not understand how annoying that is? He has to guts to demand that I take him as the only man in my life, when he gets to screw around with everybody in our grade? He's a fucking man-whore and I hate him so much" I say getting all the anger out of my chest.

"And not only that, but I think Marlene is upset with me or something…" I add frowning. Life was just not fun right now and the year had barely just started. James rubs my arm sighing.

"I'll talk to Sirius okay? I promise and as for Marlene, I'm sure it's not what it seams. She already thinks of you as her best friend and you know it! Maybe she is still feeling a little weird from eating too much last night. I'm sure things will work out" He says kindly smiling down at me. I sigh and nod. He was probably right. I mean I always tend to over exaggerate things.

"Thanks James, you always know what to say" I poke his cheek making the both of laugh. I giggle as we finish collecting his books. He takes the ones from my hands and grins.

"I'll see you in divination yeah?" He asks and I nod kissing his cheeks waving goodbye. I make my way to the Divination tower, not caring that I was half an hour early. I sit down in the chamber under the ladder and wait. While I did so, I decided to write a letter to my mum.

 _Dear mum and dad,_

 _I hope you are both well and safe and that you aren't missing us too much. I cannot say the same for me. I would do anything to be back home right now. This year has not started off as I planned. Sirius keeps getting on my nerves, still constantly asking me out, while getting with other girls. I don't think this year will be great if keeps behaving his way. I think I might be coming home for Christmas; I don't want to stay here if things keep going down hill as they are. I don't know, maybe I am being overly dramatic, James seems to think so._

 _In other new, he is hitting the books. I found out that this is how he's been getting his good grades. He hides books under his bed and studies them while everybody is asleep. Incredible isn't he? He can be a real idiot at times though. He doesn't want to "come out" about it because he's scared of what his friends will think._

 _I do hope to hear from you soon,_

 _Love,_

 _Amber_

I look down at my note and smile a little before folding it up, putting it in an envelope. I would go and mail it out right after Divination. As I put the envelope in my bag, the teacher let the ladder down. I climbed it and went to take a seat.

"Morning Professor." I smile at her as I take out my book. She smiles back at me nodding.

"Good Morning Miss Potter, you're unusually early." She teases as she takes a seat behind her text pouring herself some tea, as well as pouring some in another cup. She holds the cup of tea out towards me and I gladly take it.

"May I ask what's bothering you?" She asks after a moment of silence. She looks up at me from the rim of teacup as she takes a sip. How did she know? I take a large gulp of the scorching hot tea, not caring as it burned my throats and sigh.

"Well, it's complicated," I tell her after a little while. She raises her eyebrows at me before motioning me to go on. I picked my words carefully as I spoke to her.

"I have certain feelings for someone, a friend. But I know this friend can never return my feelings. Said friend has also started to act weirdly around me, I think. My brother says it's nothing but I just have that gut feeling that something is going to go wrong," I say as I finish my tea. I set the teacup down on the table and she takes it with no hesitation. She stares into it sighing softly. She smiles at me nodding slightly.

"All I can tell you, is that all will end well," She sets the teacup back down and motions for me to go back to my seat as the class starts to fill in. Lily skips in and comes to sit next to me.

"Is everything alright?" She asks seeing my pensive look. I give her a slight smile before nodding my eyes lingering on my teacup. Marlene comes in laughing at something Alice said and sits across the room with her. I look over at her sighing softly. She really had the most enchanting laugh. Why did life have to be so cruel? I asked myself as I slump my head down. Lily moves closer to me concerned.

"Are you sure you are alright?" She asks biting her lip softly putting her hand on my back. I can feel her follow my gaze to Marlene before looking back down at me.

"Yah it's just Sirius," I lie not looking up, not wanting her to question me as to why I was looking at her sister before I slumped my head down. She sighs and nods.

"I know how you feel about that, I have the same problem with Potter" She whines making my lift my head up.

"But its not. James has never looked at another girl, thought of another girl, dated or kissed any other girl Lily. Sirius constantly asks me out, while he flirts and snogs other girls. I'm like a joke to him whereas James actually really likes you. It's not the same and I hope you realize that soon, before both you and James get hurt." I says sternly before looking at the Professor, not wanting to talk to her right now. She stays quiet, looking quite stumped yet thoughtful. Serves her right. After five years, you would think she starts to realize that James actually cares for her. Sure he acted like a complete git sometimes, especially in front of her but it didn't matter. He wasn't like that in reality. Just as Professor Imago was starting the class, the boys burst into the class and quickly take their seats. Remus decides to sit next to us while my brother and the rest sat behind us. I smile a little at him before turning my head to listen to the Professor.

* * *

I started to head up to the owlery after class. I hadn't been able to focus in class today, not that it mattered. Divination was an easy subject. I made a turn heading towards the tower trying to avoid any human contact. I didn't want to talk to anyone who didn't understand and nobody did because nobody knew about me or was like me. I finally made it up to the Owlery without being bothered. I looked around the owls that seemed all up and ready for me to chose them. I smiled softly petting a couple of them, stroking their feathers slightly, loving the hooting sound they made. I looked around and saw an owl that was injured and I frown walking over to him. I stroked his little head and he gave a whimper like hoot. I cooed at him softly to calm him down before taking a look at him. There was a piece of wood stuck in his under-wing. I held his wing in my hand and slowly pulled out the wood. He panicked hooting wildly trying to fly away from me as I pulled it out and raised my wand at his wing to complete the healing process. Once I had let go of his wing, he cowered into the corner of his alcove.

"Hey little buddy, come back, come back. I'm not trying to hurt you." I tell him softly slowly reaching out my hand to pet him. He curiously and slowly decided to trust me and place his head in my hand.

"That's a boy." I whisper smiling at him as I stroked him. He hooted cutely making me giggle. I pulled the letter out of my back and handed it to him, putting it in his beak.

"Can you take this to Mrs. Potter please" I ask him softly and he gave somewhat of a nod. I smiled at him and stroked his head again.

"Thanks buddy. " I took a step back as he flew out of the alcove and watched him fly away. I smiled softly to myself before looking at the name on the alcove. Timber was his name. I nodded slightly to myself before making my way to the library for the rest of my free period. As I did so, I hear my brothers' voice echo through the hallway and stopped curiously to listen.

"You have got to leave her alone mate! She really is not into you okay!" James says aggressively. I smiled a little at how protective he was. I liked how he kept his word to talk to Sirius for me.

"But James it's not normal that she doesn't want to date me! Or anybody for that matter" Sirius says back desperately. I tense slightly. What was he saying? Did he know? He couldn't possibly! I start to panic. I didn't want James to find out this way! I didn't want Sirius to find out this way!

"What are you talking about? If she doesn't like anyone, she doesn't like anyone! And I like it better that way thank you" I peak my head around the corner to see James glaring at Sirius.

"Just because she doesn't want to go out with you doesn't mean you have to make stupid accusations about my sister. What are you insinuating that she is a… lesbian? That's really funny Sirius. You know her just as well as I do! She is not like that. She can't be! So you know what Sirius, don't make any foul accusations like that again. Not about my sister" He glares again. I close my eyes leaning against the wall. Foul? What did he mean by that? It sounded as though he was saying that me being a lesbian would be the disgusting… Why couldn't I be a lesbian? After all, I was one. But does that mean James doesn't want me to be one? That it should not be a possibility for me? At least now I know how my own brother feels about this and that was the worst feeling in the world. I always felt that, if anybody would be supportive of me, it would be my twin brother. To know that this would not be the case, was the most heart breaking feeling in the world. I feel tears dwell up behind my eyes so I close them not wanting the tears to fall.

"Alright, alright. I'll let it go." But it didn't sound convincing. Not to me anyway. I couldn't take it anymore so I ran. The last thing I wanted was to see how much further that conversation would go, or even worse, that they would find me eavesdropping on their conversation. I couldn't stop thinking about what I had just overheard. I thought out of anybody James would be the one that would be the most understanding. I guess I was wrong, but I really wish I wasn't. Not really looking where I was going I ended up running into someone again. What was wrong with me? Apparently everything. Sniffling softly, I helped the person with their books.

"I'm sorry." I whisper trying not to break down crying in front of a stranger.

"Amber are you alright?" I head Lily ask. I looked up at her as she took the books from my hand. I wiped away a couple of tears nodding uncertainly as I stand. She follows my movements frowning.

"Yah, yah I'm fine." I say trying to convince myself more. Things would be all right, no? Sirius wouldn't find out. I wouldn't let him and that was a promise I had to make to myself. Lily looks at me with uncertainly as more tears dwell in my eyes. The more I thought of Sirius finding out about me the more they came. I couldn't help but think of everybody turning against me.

"Amber" She starts off but I cut her off.

"I've got to go" I whisper my voice cracking as I start walking away. She doesn't follow. Good. I wipe my tears as they fall before entering the bathroom on the first floor. Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I slam the door shut, then lean on the wall next to it, sliding down to the ground, curling up into a ball, breaking down crying. Moaning Myrtle pokes her head out of her stall before floating over to me.

"Oh dear, are you alright?" She asks softly but I shake my head.

"Please Myrtle, I just want to be alone…" I whimper. She lets out a long, high pitch sigh before floating back to her stall.

Lily's P.O.V

I couldn't help but worry about Amber as we made our way to the common room after super. She hadn't been present at that time but the others had brushed it off as though she probably wasn't hungry. I knew, of course, that that statement was most probably false. She looked so upset and somehow broken when she ran into me today. I should've gone after her, but I would've been late for charms. Oh how stupid is that? I frown and shake my head as we sit down by the fire, Marlene on the floor next to Alice. All of a sudden, Potter walks in. Seeing me, he walks over to me and I see his friends trail behind him.

"Have you seen Amber? I can't find her anywhere." He asks genuinely worried. I frown and shake my head.

"She ran into me today, she looked rather upset but I didn't follow her once she left." I explain as the girls turn their attention towards us. I notice Marlene tense at what I had just said, a look of worry covering her face.

"I'll go check the dormitory." Alice says standing up, heading towards the stairs. Potter leans in and whispers something to Black who nods and heads towards their dormitory. Potter runs his hands through his hair sighing as he starts to pace in a circle by the fire. I wanted to say something but what could I say? Alice comes back down looking even more worried then before.

"She wasn't upstairs" She says. I gulp a little and look down at me hands feeling as though this was entirely fault. I knew it wasn't and that Amber was probably fine as long as she hadn't run into any Slytherins. But if I had gone after her, then maybe all of us wouldn't feel as worried as we did now. Marlene stands up coming to sit next to me, taking my hand. Whether it was to comfort me or because she needed some comforting herself, I couldn't tell but I was glad that she did. Black comes back down holding parchment.

"What's that?" I ask curiously as Potter takes it from him and sets it down on the table.

"It's a map, we've just started developing. It shows where everybody is on the grounds." He explains mumbling something and ink appears on it. I bite my lip leaning over his shoulder.

"We only have the main area of Hogwarts so far. We started last year." He explains. I notice they hadn't yet entered the towers or the library. The grounds were also absent. They only had the main building of Hogwarts and yet this was impressive magic. Looking around at it, I point to a spot.

"There she is." I say. It wasn't clear where she was.

"She could either be on the west side of the first, second or third floor" He frowns biting his lip.

"We could separate into teams and go look for her. A girl with a boy, so if we find her and she's wounded or something, the boy can carry her and if she happens to be in the girls lavatory, the girl will have access." Marlene suggests, her voice making it evident how shaken she was. Peter whimpers at the idea of being with a girl and carrying one. I roll my eyes as Potter shakes his head at Peter.

"Alright, Black, you'll go with Marlene and look around in their third floor. Remus, Pettigrew will go with Alice on the second floor and I guess I'm going with Potter" I say biting my lip. I don't know what went through my head but it was already said and done. I looked at him to see his reaction but he was too worried about Amber to think of anything else. We head out of the common room heading to our respective areas in silence. Potter looks around carefully not even bothering with me. I poke my head in every classroom to check for her.

"Where could she be?" He asks frowning as we reach the middle of the hall. Looking ahead, it clicked in my head.

"I think I might know!" I say grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the girl's lavatory. I push the door open and there she was, curled up against the wall, asleep, with a tear stained face. I gasp and kneel beside her. I put my hand on her shoulder making her whimper. Potter kneels beside me, stroking her hair.

"Why is she here? Why was she crying?" He asks softly worried. I sigh and shrugged.

"I don't know. I really don't but we can ask her. Tomorrow." I tell him putting my hand on his back rubbing it softly to comfort him. He gives me a small smile before picking her up.

"Let's just get her back to the common room" He sighs. And so we made our way back. After placing her in her bed, Potter and I came back downstairs and waited for the others to come back. Soon enough, they all did.

"Did you find her?" Marlene asks coming in with Black sounding more worried than I would have thought her to be. They were both followed by the group of four. Potter nods running his hands through his hair as they sit around us. I rub his back frowning.

"I just don't understand how this could have happened. She was so happy like two days ago and now… she's skipping class, she was crying and she missed super! She never misses super, she loves to eat!" He says desperately, trying not to freak out over it too much.

Marlene fiddles with her hands looking so anxious and worried about Amber. I look over at her frowning and shake my head.

"Look, tomorrow we can ask her what was wrong and what had happened, okay? And then we can go from there" I say calmly trying to think through this rationally.

"I just don't get it." Black says running his hand through his hair. Potters' head snaps up as he glares at his friend.

"This is your fault! It your constant pestering and whore-ish ways! It's your bloody fault! She was upset about it this morning! It is all your fault!" He barks at Black whose eyes go wide as he stares at his friend.

"My fault? How dare you blame this on me! I've been doing this for five years and she didn't complain before!" Black says. Potter stands up in anger.

"Yes she did! But you just didn't listen! She complained all the time and now you've finally pushed her over the edge!" He shouts pushing Black backwards. I stand up and pull him back, placing my hand gently on his arm.

"Don't do anything you regret please. Beside, be reasonable James. Amber is not the kind of girl to get this upset over something so like this. And while clearly Black should stop the way he behaves around her, it's not anyones fault okay?" I whisper to him. I might not like him all that much but Sirius is his best friend and they would both regret the outcomes of a possible fight between them. James sighs and calms down looking away from all of us.

"Look, Amber didn't like that Sirius was hitting on her constantly and she was upset about it today but you can't say that this his fault!" Remus reasserts making Potter nod.

"I guess you're right, you both are. I'm sorry mate." Potter says to Black. Black nods sighing. We all stopped talking about it for now but we were all thinking the same thing. What caused this?


	5. Chapter 4 - Anastasia

**_A/N. Hey everyone! I really apologize for this incredibly overdue chapter. I have been dealing with a lot of personal stuff in the last months and it's been really hard for me. I hope you all understand. I'm a better state right now, so hopefully I will be able to get the chapters in as fast as possible. I have big plans for this story and I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter! I should have the next one out soon._**

 ** _Please comment, favourite and/or follow if you enjoyed it! I love getting feedback!_**

* * *

Amber's P.O.V

Needless to say, I woke up feeling like shit. I feel so stupid for crying about this but I can't help it. Really I can't. How else am I suppose to react when I am: being pestered by a manwhore over and over again, if said manwhore was trying to find out your secret and if you brother wouldn't want you to be who you really are and would feel disgusted by it? Oh and not to mention that I can't talk to anybody about it because nobody would ever, ever understand how I feel and what I'm going through? After four years, four years, things were finally starting to crash. I had been holding in this fear, these feelings for four years and now everything I had feared was coming most likely going to come true. I was losing my friends; I was obviously going to lose my brother if he found out. Why now? Especially with O.W.L's coming up, this stress is unreal. I open my eyes reluctantly and find myself in my bed. How did I get here? Last I remember, I was crying in Myrtles bathroom. I run my hands through my hair and rub my eyes. I slowly and quietly get out of bed and head to the bathroom, trying not to wake anybody up. The last thing I wanted was to be questioned. I close the door slowly and turn to look at myself in the mirror. My cheeks were red and tear stained. My hair was a complete mess. My eyes were red and puffy. So basically, I felt like shit and looked like shit too. What a great way to start the day isn't it? I opened the tap, letting the water flow into the sink. I cup some of the water and start to wash my face and then proceeded to comb my hair before tying it up in a messy bun and walking out. I quickly, yet quietly got dressed, tensing up if any one of them moved or made a noise. I was pretty pleased with myself that I managed to slip on my school robes without having woken any of them up. I grab my rucksack and rush out of the room. I close the door softly and take a deep sigh of relief. Thank god, I think to myself before making my way down to the common room. I start to make my way out of the common room.

"What are you doing?" I head a small, squeaky voice say from behind me. I squeal and jump, surprised. I turn around and come face to face with Peter. I gulp a little, my heart racing.

"Going to breakfast?" I ask softly not sure if I was doing so and wondering at the same time why he was asking me this.

"James wants to talk to you, they are worried about you, you know." He stutters now nervous as he looks down at his fingers. I stare at him, worried for a second before actually thinking this through. He didn't know where I was going, he would probably be too nervous to say anything to James so why was I worried? I bite my lip. I could leave right now and nothing would happen. And so I did. I gave him one last smile and walked out of the portrait hole. I know this might seem selfish of me, to not want to face my friends and my brother, to make them worry but I didn't know what I would say. I didn't know what I would do. They would ask me questions as to why I was crying and I couldn't just blurt out the truth. I was scared, scared of the truth, scared of confrontation and scared of losing the people who matter the most to me.

I couldn't help but feel guilty as I walked through the halls wandering aimlessly. I was kind of being selfish and rude but why should I feel guilty for keeping a secret? People kept secrets all the time right? But generally those secrets don't make people worry like mine did. Or maybe they did… But I just feel like this is just too much for me right now. Ugh why could I not figure this out! What was I going to do? I would have to face them at some point right? I stopped as I found myself in front of a door. I frown; this door never seemed to be here before. I step in the room and the door closes itself behind me. All I saw was an empty room with a piano. Since when did this school have a piano? One top of the piano bench lay a notebook, from the looks of it, and a piece of paper. I bite my lip and nervously take a step forward. I picked up the notebook curiously and opened it slowly. Sheet music, pages and pages of empty sheet music. Those were the contents of it. I let my rucksack fall from my shoulder and onto the floor as I slumped down on the bench. I set the notebook down beside me, next to the pen before running my fingers on top of the keys. Long had it been since I had laid a hand on a piano. I used to play all the time at home. However since school had started four years ago, I had stopped. I simply didn't have time in the summer, between travelling with the parents and hanging out with Lily and the Marauders. I pressed down on a couple of keys and then found myself playing Fur Elise by Beethoven. Once I was done, I let out a small laugh. I still got it, I tell myself feeling happy. I looked down at the notebook. I had never tried song writing… maybe it's time I gave it a go. I bite my lip and open up the notebook.

* * *

I came out of the room clutching my notebook as I ran to class. I would be late if I didn't hurry. I had lost track of time as I wrote. It felt so good though, just pouring all my feelings out in music. I ignore the stares that people give me as I run to Greenhouse #4 to make it to Herbology. I barely make it before Professor Sprout, who came in a minute after me. Thankfully, as I did not want to sit near any of my friends today, the only place left along the long tables was next to Anastasia Cozabadian, an Armenian Hufflepuff who was incredibly shy. I had had the pleasure of getting to know her in this class in the previous years. We never really talked outside of class though but I did know a little bit about her. I give her a small smile as I sat on the stool next to hers. After giving us the O.W.L speech, Professor Sprout focuses on the plant sitting in front of her. I stared at it in wonder as she explained what were were supposed to do during this class with the _Fanged Geranium_.

"Now I want you all to partner up and describe its physical properties. Analyze it and write down all the information you think is critical to the understanding and use of the plant. This is the kind of thing that may come up in your O.W.L's." She explains before waving her wand, which made 13 Fanged Geranium appear along side the tables. Since we were 26, this meant that we had one for each pair of two. I bite on my lip and look at Anastasia.

"Would you like to be partners?" I ask softly. After a soft yes on her part, we slowly start to work on it, getting to know each other a bit more as we did. Near the end, we were shoving our quills in the toothed mouth of the plant laughing when it would spit out feathers at us. I hear a cough behind us and I turn to see Lily standing behind me. I sigh and turn back to the plant.

"Amber?" She asks confused placing her hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off and start randomly scribbling on my parchment. I didn't want to talk to her. Talking would lead to questions; questions would lead to frustration because they wont have answers, then that would lead to the loss of my friends because what kind of friend keeps secrets right? Admittedly, I was probably over reacting but I felt like this was something I had to do.

"Don't you have a plant to work on?" I ask grumbling as I pretend to observe the plant more closely. I bite my lip trying to look even more focused.

"Well, I've already finished. Is there anyway we could talk after class? We all have a couple questions to ask you." She says really gently, which made me feel guilty for what I was about to say next and how I was going to say it.

"I have more important things to do then answer stupid questions Lily, now please, I have a plant I need to analyze." I say harshly turning to look at her glaring slightly. This was killing me but it had to be done no? I mean if not they would find out my secret. If I was rude, then they wouldn't pester me about anything and they would leave it be. Then again, it might make them hate me even and I would still lose them. Why did this have to be so hard? I sigh as she leaves looking rather upset but it was too late to take it back.

"I'm such a horrible person." I whisper setting down my notepad and quill. Anastasia frowns at me and sets down her own things.

"Then why did you that? If you don't mind telling me that is." She said as an after thought. I smiled at her a little before shaking my head.

"I have a secret alright? And I'm scared if they find out, I'll lose them all. I actually know I'll lose James, and even if it doesn't seem that way I care about losing Sirius as well. And all the girls I'm friends with, they would hate me… If they ask me questions about what happened yesterday… " I sigh and run my hands through my hair.

"I just don't want to lose everyone" I finish as I look up at Anastasia.

"What happened yesterday?" She asked me slowly; as if she was scared I would blow up in her face. I gave her a small smile.

"Because of my secret, I was crying in Myrtles bathroom and I guess they found me. Now I guess they want to know what's wrong." I frown thinking of losing them. Anastasia was about to say something when Sprout announced that the task was over.

"Hand in your papers please and then class it dismissed." She said smiling at us. I take Anastasia's paper and hand both of our papers in to Sprout. When I went back to my stool to get my bag, I saw that Anastasia was gone. I ignored the disappointed feeling at the pit of my stomach as I head out of the greenhouse and towards the castle. I bite down on my lip as I make my way up the hill. From behind me, I hear Marlene call me. I turn to face her but then hear someone else calling me. I turn back and see Ana calling for me. I didn't want to ignore Marlene, because well… she was Marlene but I also did not want her to find out what I was keeping from them. If anything, my friendship with Marlene would be affected more than my friendship with the others because of how I feel about her. I didn't want to lose them and most importantly, I could not risk loosing Marlene. But if I did talk to them that would lead to questions and I didn't want to face that at all right now. So I turned to Ana and marched right up the hill to stand by her. We continue to head over to the castle as I glance over my shoulder. I bite my lip, as I look back at all my friends who are running up trying to reach me. I look at Ana and sigh.

"I'm sorry about this," I say as I grabbed her arm. She looks at me confused before I break out into a run. Seeing that, James and Lily, who were the two quickest in our group, start running after us. We run into the castle trying to lose them. I lead us through a maze of halls but Lily and James are still onto us, not wanting to give it up. So I felt my best bet was the staircases. I yank Anastasia up to the 7th floor and I quickly push through a random door as I thought of the room for this morning hoping they wouldn't find me there.

We slam the door behind us and fall to the ground, backs against the door, panting heavily from the run we just had. We looked at each other and started laughing, laughing so hard it because really, this situation was ridiculous. Suddenly everything came into perspective. My hand was under hers, our faces were almost touching, we were so close. I could feel her breath on mine and slowly we both started leaning in. What came over me I don't know but the moment just felt so charged. There was no denying that she was beautiful, long black hair, full lips and a cute button nose. Her eyes were a soft brown, the colour of chocolate. This moment, however haste, almost felt right. Almost. Before our lips could touch, we heard their footsteps from behind the door. We freeze.

"Where did they go?" James asks panting slightly. I bite my lip putting a finger to my lips. She nods gulping a little as she leans her head back against the door.

"I don't know! I was sure they came this way!" Lily says panting as well.

"Why? Why would she run away? Why can't she just talk to us?" James asks sounding really upset. I look down at my lap and sigh. I was really hurting them wasn't I? But it's not my fault! In the end, all of us would end up hurt. This wasn't fair… Not fair to me, not fair to them.

"Hey, hey its okay. We can talk to her tonight alright? I promise everything will be alright." Lily says. Soon enough, we hear their footsteps lead away from the door and everything went silent. I look at her and smile a little bit pushing some hair back behind my ear. She smiles back and hesitantly stares at my lips. My eyes wander as I look around nervously. Was she thinking of that moment like I was? Was she thinking I was gross and disgusting? What was going on now? I needed to get out of this situation. I spot the piano and jump up.

"Oh look, a piano!" I say nervously letting out a shaky laugh. I don't dare look at her as I go and sit at the piano. I hear her stand, her footsteps heading for me. She stands by me as I skim the keys a little.

"Do you play?" She asks softly. I look at her and nod slightly with a small smile.

"I've always played… its just been a long time since…" I sigh and look back down at the keys. I still couldn't help think of how we almost kissed. Would she have liked it? Oh god what was I thinking! Sure I knew her, I have known her for a while now but still… I mean this wasn't right! She probably wasn't like me and even if she was… No… No… I couldn't think like this… First Marlene… now maybe even her… what was going on with me this year.

"Play me something." She asks moving to sit next to on the rather small bench. Rather, it felt small because she was sitting so close. I kind of liked it. No! Bad Amber! I tried to not look at her as I nodded and started to play the piece I had been composing this morning, stopping when I was got to the point I had finished writting.

"That was… that was beautiful. I've never heard it before. Did you write that?" She asks smiling at me. I smile back and nod.

"It's not finished though. I've only just started writing it." I explain. She nods not really knowing what to say but after a little while she broke the comfortable silence we had settled in.

"You'll have to let me know when you've finished it. I want to hear it all." She whispers quietly sending shivers down my spin. I gulped slightly and nodded.

"Yah… yah. I can do that." I whisper back shyly as I blushed. Nobody had ever really heard me play other then family and it felt good to have people tell me I was good, especially since this was my first piece. She giggles and looks back at the piano.

"Teach me something!" She asks laughing slightly. I smile at her and bite my lip.

"Okay well what do you want to know? I could teach you Fur Elise or something easier like Happy Birthday?" I ask. She frowns as she tried to decide what song to learn how to play. God she looked so cute doing that. It was absolutely adorable.

"I think, I think want to learn Fur Elise, but maybe like an easy quick version. I'm no pianist like you." She says nodding as I look back down at the keys. I smile biting my lip and I start to teach her. She fumbles around with the keys making me laugh and I put my hands over hers to guide her movements. Slowly but surely she learned the first part. The easy part most would say but she seemed really happy.

"Alright so now that you have the right hand down, how about we add the left hand?" I asked her making her gulp.

"Two hands? Together?" She squeaks. I laugh at how adorable she sounded but nodded none the less.

"Come on, you can do it. I believe in you" I nudge her slightly, trying to give her a confidence boost.

"Alright, alright fine. Fine but only because you are such a good teacher." She winks at me nudging me back. I smile at her and start to teach her the left hand separately. I giggle when she fails and shake my head.

"No see it's like this?" I say showing her how. She bites her lip nodding and tried to mimic me but it didn't work. I laugh and shake my head trying to show her again. She frowns and bites her lip as she tried to do what I did without success. I put my hand over hers again and try to show her. She finally starts to get the hang of it.

"See, I knew you could this." I encourage smiling softly.

"Now try it on your own!" I suggest smiling at her. She sighs and tries it on her own but fails. I raise my eyebrows. She blushes and bites down on her lip.

"Maybe I'm not that good yet?" She asks hesitantly. I raise my eyebrows at her again. She gives me her biggest smile before shrugging. I sigh and press my hand on top of hers to help her again. She bites her lip blushing as I press my hand against hers.

"Is everything okay?" I ask her as I take my hand away. She smiles and nods.

"Yah. Why wouldn't things be okay?" I smile at her answer and shrug. I continue on teaching her and soon enough she gets it making me laugh as she jumps up and down on on the seat clapping her hands.

"Yay! I'm a pianist!" She teases making me laugh even more.

"You are getting there!" I smile at her, putting my hand on her shoulder. She smiles back at me as her eyes meet mine.

"I couldn't have done it without you, my incredible teacher." She giggles and nudges me slightly. I let my hand fall as I bite my lip. Was she flirting with me? Was this actually happening? I didn't know if I wanted this. But she was starting to lean in and I slowly felt myself lean in forward. I smile shyly as our lips near each other. They were barely touching, but our noses were.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asks me softly and looks into my eyes. I looked at her for a moment before slowly pressing my lips onto her. Her lips were soft and they tasted of cherry. I smiled softly and put my hand on her cheek, cupping it. I had tiny little butterflies in my stomach as she slowly pulls away smiling. I could not contain the smile that formed on my face as well.

"That was…" I bite my lip and look down at our hands. I guess they had found their way to each other when we were kissing. I blushed slightly.

"Wow." She finished smiling at me and leaning in to give me another kiss. I smile into it before pulling back. She giggles as I blush softly.

"So what does this mean for us now?" I ask softly. She looks down at our hands and squeezes mine.

"Well, I want to ask you out on a date but I know that neither of us are really open about this…" She says sighing softly. I smile at her and nod.

"I know, but I guess if we ever did go on a date, it could seem like two friends hanging out right? While we are on the date, we could tone down all the couple-y stuff so people don't actually suspect anything." I suggest. It obviously was not ideal, I mean if I wanted to go on a date with her, I should be able to go on this date with her. But this was… this was a time where people like us were not viewed well by others. Our relationship would be a sin, this kiss would be viewed as a sin… But if it was a sin, how could it feel so right?

"That might actually work! That is brilliant actually!" She says smiling. I can't help but smile back at her.

"Thanks. The first Hogsmeade trip is next weekend. First trip of the year, do you want to go together?" I ask her still blushing. This would be my first date ever, not to mention I was nervous. I didn't really want anybody to find out about us, not yet anyway. She smiles and kisses me again. God I just loved it when she did that. It was a little strange that with me, she wasn't as shy and I was super shy towards her well because outside of this relationship it was the other way around but I could really get used to this. She bites down on my lip as she pulls away giggling as my eyes stay closed, being completely immersed in the moment.

"Does that answer your question?" She asks smiling at me. I nod softly as I open my eyes. I gingerly kiss her again, not being able to contain myself.

"It does but I still want to hear you say yes." I whisper against her lips. She giggles pressing her lips onto mine. The kissing would not stop, and I did not really want it to. I had never really kissed anyone until now and I was really enjoying being able to be myself with her.

"Yes, yes I would love to go out on a date with you next weekend." She says giggling as she pulls away. I roll my eyes, smiling, as she over exaggerates her answer.

"Better?" She asks with a hint of sass. I laugh as she wiggles her eyebrows.

"Shut up!" I say still laughing before kissing her again. I just couldn't get enough of her kisses. At the back of my head though, I hear a small voice telling me that she should be Marlene, because I had been crushing on her for a while now but I pushed it back way, way, way back down in my head, drowning it out. I was happy now. I could be happy with Ana, I could be myself with her. I wasn't going to let anything ruin this for me.

* * *

I got back to the Common Room with a smile on my face. I had just spent the past three hours in that room with Ana. Not much talking was done. No! No not in that way. Okay maybe a little bit in that way. We mostly just played the piano. Sometimes I would play for her, sometimes we would play together and then sometimes we would just kiss. It doesn't matter because well we had fun. We both felt a little bad for skipping class but that didn't matter too much in the end. I started heading upstairs to my dorm when I heard a cough coming from the couches near the fireplace. I bite my lip and turn. I had just realized that the Common Room was empty, empty except for my friends sitting on the couches near the fire. All of them were there, James, Sirius, Remus, Pettigrew, Lily, Marlene, Alice. I gulped slightly and wave awkwardly.

"Hey guys!" I say my voice shaky from nervousness. I didn't want to face this right now. Not the questions, not the scolding I was probably going to get for skipping class today and yesterday and not the guilt I was going to feel after this conversation. James' nostrils flare from anger.

"Hey guys? Hey guys! That is all you have to say for yourself! Do you know how worried I- we were about you? You skipped class more then once! You were crying last night for Merlin's sake and you were being extremely rude to all of us! What has gotten into you? After all that you just come in here smiling and dazed like nothing ever happened and all you have to say for yourself is 'Hey guys'!" He shouts as he stands making his way over to me as he speaks. I gulp slightly, my mouth opening stupidly. But what I said next made things even worse.

"What's up?" I squeak out not knowing what else to say. James' eyes go wide and just as he is about to scream at me again, Lily rushes to him and puts her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Amber, please can you just sit down and talk to us?" She asks gently begging me with her eyes.

"One condition." I say coughing as I try to regain my confidence.

"Anything!" Marlene says from the couch. The others nod agreeing. I sigh and nod.

"But you aren't going to like this… None of you can ask me why I was crying last night alright? I'll tell you when I'm ready but that isn't now… I hope you can respect that." I say biting my lip nervously as I look at of them.

"No!" James says as all the others agree to my terms. I looked at him raising an eyebrow.

"No! No I wont not ask! You are my sister! You are supposed to be able to tell me anything including why you were crying!" He says obviously very upset by this. I sigh and pull him into a hug. He hugs back tightly.

"James please… I just need some time all right? I promise you that when I am really you will be the first I tell?" I say softly holding him closer as I think of the consequences of me telling him, as I think of losing my twin brother. He sighs into my neck but nods as we pull away.

"Alright… now can we talk about this please?" He asks. I smile softly at him and nod. We move to the couches and sit down, me on James' laps since there was no more space. It was quiet for a moment before Remus spoke up.

"Why have you been skipping class?" He asks making me bite my lip. The others all look at me waiting for my answer.

"Well yesterday, it was because I was upset and I didn't want to go to class, mostly because I forgot since I was crying" I whisper looking down at my fingers on my lap. James gives me a slightly squeeze, saying it was okay and that I should go on. I give him a small smile.

"And today it was because I lost track of time since I found a piano while trying to escape Lily and James. I just sat at it and played for hours." I say smiling as I think back to what really happened. I wasn't lying, not technically. I was just leaving out part of the truth and that isn't lying. I looked back down at my fingers as I bit my lip. I could still taste the cherry lip balm that Ana uses. I look up and my eyes meet Marlene's. I feel a little pang in my chest and in my gut but I ignore it. Ana likes me. And yes, yes I think I like her back. I know I like her back, at least as much as you can like someone after spending hours kissing them. I look around at the others and they all looked like they had bought it.

"Alright well then why were you being rude today?" Lily asks.

"And why did you run away from us?" Alice adds curiously.

"Well both of those go together. You see, I didn't want to be questioned on what happened last night and I felt like if I was being rude, it would push you all away and you wouldn't ask. You wouldn't bother me with something I didn't want to be bothered with. I ran because I knew that if I talked to you all, I would end up revealing why. But then, I talked to Ana and she told me to set boundaries before talking to you all so I wouldn't end up being upset. She also told me I was being ridiculous and that I should not ignore you guys over something like this because all you guys are doing is caring about me." I explain.

"Ana?" Sirius asks raising an eyebrow. I gulped a little thinking back of the conversation that he and James had yesterday. He would be on to me if I didn't clear this up.

"Anastasia? The Hufflepuff girl I was working with in Herbology. Yah, I was running with her when we found the piano room. We talked a little because she was wondering why I had dragged her along and I explained to her the situation. She gave me advice and then went to class." I lie smiling. I knew the only class we had with Hufflepuffs was Herbology, History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts and we didn't have D.A.D.A. and H.O.M. until tomorrow there was no way they could figure out I was lying.

"And why did you drag her along?" Marlene asks frowning slightly. I shrugged before giving them an answer.

"She wanted to talk to me about something before you guys called for me and I wanted to give her that chance. Turns out she wanted to know why I had been rude to Lily." I explain sounding rather convincing.

"I'm going to bed then if any of you want to join me." I say, as I stand not wanting to drag this awkward conversation even longer. It probably wasn't awkward for them but it was for me. All the girls join me and we make our way upstairs.

"Goodnight guys!" I call out, as I get comfortable in my bed. I get multiple goodnights back. I smile as I set my head on my pillow closing my eyes. I could not wait for next weekend.


End file.
